The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial Blue Flax Lily variety of Dianella caerulea×brevipedunculata, which has been given the varietal denomination of ‘Weeping Kate’. Its market class is that of an ornamental grass-like plant. ‘Weeping Kate’ is intended for use in landscaping and as a decorative grass-like plant.
An application for plant breeders' rights for variety ‘Weeping Kate’ has been filed with the Australian Plant Breeders' Rights Office, under the name ‘Weeping Kate’ on 9 Jun. 2009 under Application No. 2009/138.
Parentage. The Dianella caerulea×brevipedunculata variety ‘Weeping Kate’ was first discovered in 2005 in an Australian nursery in Park Ridge, Queensland, Australia as part of a seed production program. ‘Weeping Kate’ is a result of an interspecific cross from open pollinated an unnamed plant of Dianella caerulea grown alongside an unnamed plant of Dianella brevipedunculata. The ‘Indigo Bells’ maternal parent, an unnamed plant of Dianella caerulea is characterized by a short to medium plant height (to 50 cm), flowering stem extending well above foliage and a typical seasonal spring to summer flowering period. The ‘Weeping Kate’ pollen parent, an unnamed plant of Dianella brevipedunculata is characterized by a short to medium plant height (to 50 cm), flowering stem position well below the foliage and a typical seasonal spring to summer flowering period.
In 2004, an unnamed plant of Dianella caerulea and an unnamed plant of Dianella brevipedunculata. were grown in separate adjacent open beds for the purpose of seed collection. The plants were open pollinated and each species type was collected separately for growing on to seedling stage.
Several thousand seedling plants were grown. In 2005 fifty plants were identified as having short plant heights. These plants were selected and grown to maturity for evaluation. A single plant from these was found to produce flowers from a small size. It was micropropagated and then planted out to test if the unique traits were reproduced over successive generation of vegetative reproduction. These plants were grown for 12 months and subsequently found to flower for 12 months of the year with a flowering stem presentation intermediate between that of an unnamed plant of Dianella caerulea and an unnamed plant of Dianella brevipedunculata. It was also found to have other characteristics of Dianella brevipedunculata including a clumping (not running) plant growth habit and resistance to root rotting that affects Dianella caerulea, but not Dianella brevipedunculata. It was subsequently named ‘Weeping Kate’ in Australia and given the name ‘Indigo Bells’ in the USA.
Asexual reproduction. ‘Weeping Kate’ was first asexually propagated by micropropagation in 2005, in the state of Queensland, Australia. It was asexually reproduced again from 2005 to 2009 and confirmed to be stable in character. The distinctive characteristics of the inventive variety, ‘Weeping Kate’, have remained stable and true to type from generation to generation through successive cycles of asexual reproduction including vegetative division and more than twenty generations in micropropagation.